'Nasty Nick' says reality stars now do 'far worse' than he did on first Big Brother
The reality star was at the centre of a controversy over manipulating nominations
Big Brother star Nick Bateman has insisted people do “far worse” on reality TV now than he did to earn his “Nasty” nickname.
The 55-year-old was on the first ever series of the show in 2000 and sparked a huge backlash when he was caught writing things down in what was seen as a bid to influence nominations and the voting.
He talked about the controversy as he appeared on This Morning for a Big Brother reunion, which featured Kate Lawler, Nadia Almada and the show’s presenter Alison Hammond, who was a contestant in 2002.
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Asked if he saw it as manipulating nominations, he insisted: "No, you look at shows now and people do far worse."
Bateman, who now lives in Australia, said he had been surprised to have been chosen for the programme in the first place.
“I didn’t think I would get on it, so many people applied,” he said, adding that even the producers suggested he might be "too boring" to be a housemate.
“As the process became narrower and narrower, and they were narrowing people down, I thought that I had got probably even less chance of getting on the show so I was quite surprised that I was picked.”
Almada, the show's first ever transgender contestant, said she had now trained to be a hairdresser.
She won the fifth series and said her Big Brother experience was “the best summer holiday ever” and gave her the chance to step away from everyday life.
Lawler, who won Hammond’s series of the fly on the wall show in 2002, shared that she almost hadn’t signed up.
She told the presenters that after she was selected she "got scared" and debated whether to enter the reality TV house.
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With the show getting rebooted, Lawler said anyone who was chosen should make sure to be themselves, as they would end up being “exposed” for who they really are anyway.
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